Political Socialization - Conceptions of the Good Citizen and Political Attitudes

The meaning of "good citizenship" still elicits clashing views from the part of political scientists, philosophers and civic educators. Visions of the ideal civic attributes of a democratic citizen range from conservative, which emphasize personal responsibility, patriotism, and individual virtue, to radical, centered on the pursuit of social justice. Moreover,these competing visions get embedded into the civics curricula accordingly. Previous studies that analyzed the effects of educational programs aiming to advance democracy through different models of citizenship found significant differences in their impact on student’s civic outcomes (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004). By making use of Westheimer and Kahne’s distinction between participatory and justice–oriented citizenship, I intend to explore the effect of educational messages crafted in accordance with these two conceptions of citizenship on students’political attitudes. To this end, an experimental design will be employed using samples of middle-school students in Romania. Moreover, I aim to inquire into any developmental pattern in the effect of these messages.